I've been eyeballing an Atlas plymouth switcher lately but all I've managed to see are 2 rail versions, were 3 rail versions made?
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No. Both the Plymouth and the F9 were offered as 2 rail only by Atlas.
Best, SZ
Well, as of 5 min ago I'm getting one anyway...when it shows I'll have to figure out how to 3 rail her....shouldn't be too hard- I hope{I run 3 rail}.
Thanks for the input anyway SZ!
Think twice about that conversion job. Remember it's DC so most if not all the guts will have to come out. I don't know how you will replace the trucks and everything else. Why not get a K-line Plymouth switcher. Three rail, smoke, and everything. Don
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Don, got the K-line switcher{no plow though}.
As for guts, there ain't much in there...pics I saw last night shows a large weighted block that holds the 3 axles and motor. The motor is grounded thru the block assy as well as the lights too, so the most I figured was a center rail p/u or two, under the coupler pockets. Add either a bridge rectifier for forward only{under AC usage only} or the spare williams E-reverse board to control things.
According to the pics I saw, this guy from Australia, shortened a 6 wheeled version like the one I'm getting down to a 4 wheeled shorty engine with a new cab - I want to rebody mine into something of a GE 23 tonner on steroids{3 axle}. Since the bottom gear drive cap is made out of plastic I can attach the needed center rail roller pick up and just do a little bit of a rewire....that's the plan at least.
Originally Posted by Steinzeit:
No. Both the Plymouth and the F9 were offered as 2 rail only by Atlas.
Best, SZ
And even in 1975, $20.00 was a bargain...
Rusty
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The Williams reverse board might be a bit difficult to squeeze in there, but a miniature non-shorting DPDT toggle will give you manual reverse with a minimum of effort. You can hide the switch in the cab. I did that with a Merkur steam engine that came to me wired for European 3-rail DC. In that case I had plenty of room for a reverse board, I just didn't feel like going to the trouble of installing it and making a tether.
We have a nice little narrow gauge one that runs as a backup to the two steam engines. Don
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Originally Posted by Rusty Traque:
Originally Posted by Steinzeit:
No. Both the Plymouth and the F9 were offered as 2 rail only by Atlas.
Best, SZ
And even in 1975, $20.00 was a bargain...
Rusty
..."every lil kid"...well, the big kid got one!
-SH, neat idea
...old school like prewar lionel{if I remembered that correctly}! I figured that the new body will leave me enough room since it'll encompass the whole top plate, that way I should be able to add the E board.
-Don, how do you guys pack alot of neat stuff in such a tiny bunch of islands?! Nice pic!
If you need some detailed pictures of ours I can run down there and take some. It's only three blocks from the house. It's amazing. We have five steam engines on this island, two of them running. Kauai has I think three or four running steam engines. Don
1. Back in '79 I see I bought most of mine for $ 4.99 each -- or one could buy four for $ 17.99....
2. Converting these to 3 rail was not as easy as converting the F9 because of the wheel/axle fit on the switchers. I recently ran across some of the remnants of my partially completed converted switcher, "partially" because I lowered the river instead: I converted to layout to run either 2 rail scale or 3 rail hirail, AC or DC....
[ and yes, it had turnouts -- lotsa them.]
Best, SZ
